This paper explores the properties of pre-test strategies in estimating a linear Cliff–Ord-type spatial model when the researcher is unsure about the nature of the spatial dependence. More specifically, the paper explores the finite sample properties of the pre-test estimators introduced in...

The Davis-Hinich multidimensional model of electoral competition is the foundation for a very broad set of models in economics, political science, public choice and political economy. This essay reviews some of these models and how they build on and extend the original Davis-Hinich model. It...

Geographically weighted regression (GWR) is a popular technique to deal with spatially varying relationships between a response variable and predictors. Problems, however, have been pointed out (see Wheeler and Tiefelsdorf in J Geogr Syst 7(2):161–187, <CitationRef CitationID="CR27">2005</CitationRef>), which appear to be related to...</citationref>

The empirical work on local public finance has found that the marginal effect of lump-sum grants on expenditure is larger than that of income, thereby providing evidence of the “flypaper effect”. However, most existing studies only employ single equation models to test the flypaper effect....

I use data from the South African Social Giving Survey to investigate the role of social capital and motivations for giving to formal charities and beggars. Results suggest that both impure altruism and inequality aversion positively influence giving to formal charities but they have no...